Krenek: What Price Confidence?; Songs: Davidson/Narucki

Ernst Krenek composed no less than 21 operas - 11 in Europe before the outbreak of the second world war, and another 10 after he settled in the US - but just two, Jonny Spielt Auf and Karl V, now have even the vaguest toehold in the repertory. What Price Confidence? is one of the forgotten ones, a chamber opera for four voices with piano that Krenek completed in 1945 to his own English libretto. Set in late Victorian London, it's the slightly unexpected story of two young couples who end up swapping partners, and both the text and the music are laced with jokey references to Britain. Schoenberg's one-act comedy Von Heute auf Morgen seems to have been Krenek's model; but his word setting is functionally syllabic rather than lyrical, and the 12-note piano accompaniment dry, never expansive. It is decently sung here, but remains just a curiosity; the three sets of songs that complete the disc are more impressive, but, frustratingly, go undocumented in the sleeve notes.